Legislation approved by the House of Representatives last week would create a pair of new federal grant programs to help communities remove microplastics from their drinking water and wastewater supplies.
The House’s passage of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act (S. 1982) comes nearly nine months after the Senate approved a similar version of the measure. Both proposals would create a series of new federal grant programs to address microplastics, including a program to help local communities remove plastic waste and microplastics from sources of drinking water. Another similar program would offer funds to help communities remove plastic waste and microplastics from wastewater, and in each case the local community would directly apply to EPA for the grant through a procedure the agency would have to establish.
The House-approved bill would authorize EPA to spend up to $50 million over five years on each of the drinking water and wastewater grant programs. The bill would also create two additional grant programs to help local communities and nonprofit organizations reduce the quantity of solid waste that makes its way to waterbodies and help states improve recycling efforts.
Other parts of the legislation would require EPA to develop a strategy to reduce plastic waste in waterways and oceans and work with other federal agencies to study the use of plastic waste in infrastructure projects. Additionally, EPA and the National Academies of Sciences would be required to complete an assessment of whether microplastics are present in the nation’s food supplies and sources of drinking water, what risks they carry, and the quantity of environmental chemicals that absorb microplastics. The assessment would be due within two years of the bill’s enactment.
The House approved S. 1982 by a voice vote, but only after making several changes to the Senate-approved text, such as dropping language that would have blocked funding for the new grant programs if Drinking Water or Clean Water State Revolving Fund appropriations fell below a certain threshold. As a result of the changes, the bill will go back to the Senate for a final vote before being sent on to President Trump.